The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-01-14

tNtuoNa w bC blPt8pthg obN otOthNi
until she was tired. Mrs. Grant still
tried to stand by her friend, aud every
body was shocked and Mortified. Blu,
all things came TO sn end, and after 9
while we returned to City Point
That night the President aud Mrs
lIincoln entertained General and Mrs
Grant and the Generals staff at din
ner on the steamer, and before US all
Mrs. Lincoln beraied General Ord tc
the President and urged that he should
be removed. lie was unfit for hi
place, she said, TO say nothing Of hi
wife. General Grant sat next and DE-
fended his officer bravely. Of course
General Ord was not removed.
During all this visit similar scene,
were occurring. Mrs. Lincoln repeat
edly attacked her husband in the pres
ence of officers because OF these tw,
ladies, and | never suffered greater
humiliation aud pain on account of on.
not a near personal friend than when
saw the head of the State--the mar
who carried all tho cares OF the natioi
at such crisis--suhjected to this in
expressible public modification. H.
bore it as Christ might have done, with
an expression OF pain and sadness that
cut one to the heart, but with supreme
calmness and dignity. He called hei
"mother" with bis oldtime plaiuness
he pleaded with eyes and tones, and en-.
deavored to explain or palliate the Of
fenses of Others, till she turned on him
like tigress. and then he walked
away, hiding that noble, ugly face that
we might not catch the full expression
of its misery.
Shortly before these occurrences
Mrs. Stanton had visited City Point
and chanced to ask her some ques
tion about the Presidents wife 81 do
not visit Mrs. Lincoln was the reply.
| thought must have been mistaken.
The wife of the Secretary of War
must visit the wife of the President,
and renewed my inquiry. "Under-
stand me, SIR she repeated, Il do not
go TO the White House; do not visit
Mrs. Lincoln" | was not intimate with
her at the time, nor indeed ever, and
this remark was so extraordinary that
i never forgot it, but understood il
afterwards.
Mrs. Lincoln continued her conduct
towards Mrs. Grant, who strove to pla
cate her, and then Mrs. Lincoln be-
came more outrageous still. She once
rebuked Mrs. Grant for sitting in her
presence. "How dare you be seated
she said, until l invite you'll" Alto
gether it was hateful experience at
that tremendous crisis in the nations
history, for all this was just before the
army started on it's last campaign.
But the war ended aud the President
and Mrs. Lincoln had returned to
Washington when General Grant ar
rived from Appomattox, bringing Mrs.
Grant with him. Two nights after
wards both General and Mrs. Grant
and the Secretary of War and Mrs.
Stanton were invited to accompany the
President and Mrs. Lincoln to the play.
No answer had yet been sent when
Mrs. Stanton called on Mrs. Grant to
inquire if she meant to be one of the
party. "For," said Mrs. Stanton, sun
less you accept the invitation | shall
refuse. viii not sit without you in
the box with Mrs. Lincoln Mrs.
Grant was also tired out with what she
had endured, and decided not TO 90 To
the play, little dreaming of the terri
BILE experience she was thus escaping.
She determined to 60 that night to
Burlington, in New Jersey, where her
children were at school, and asked the
G. neral to accompany her. She sent
note of apology to Mrs. Lincoln and
Mrs. Stanton also declined the invita-.
ton. They may both thus have save
their husbands lives.
After the murder of the Presid snt
the eccentricities of Mr.. Lincoln be-
came more apparent than ever, and
people began TO wonder whether her
mind had not been effected by her
terrible misfortune. Nj. Seward told
me that she sold tn. Pr sldents shirts,
with his initials marked on them, be.
fore she lett the White House and that,
learning the linen was for sale at a
shop in Pennsylvania avenue, he sent
aud bought it pri, ately. She fingered
at the Executive Mansion long while
after all arrangements should have
been made for her departure, keeping
the new Pre- sidcnt out of his proper
residence. Afterwards she made ap
peals TO public men and to the country
for pensions and other pecuniary aid
though there was no need for public
application. She went abroad doing
strange things and carrying the honor
ed name of Abraham Lincoln into
strange and sometimes unfit company,
for she was greatly neglected aud fell
the neglect. When | was Co IsuI
General at London | learned of he,
living in an obscure quarter and went
to see her. She was touched by the
attention, and when l asked her to nv
house-for 1t seemed wrong that the
widow of the man who had done &C
much for us all should be ignored by
any American representative-sht
wrote me a note of thanks, betraying
how rare such courtesies had become
! to her then.
The next | heard of the poor wo.
man was the scandal of the courts in
Chicago, when the fact was made clear
that she was insane. 1t was a great
relief to me to learn it, and doubtless
the disclosure of the secret which her
son must have long suspected-though
like the Spartan boy, he cloaked his
paln-was to him a sort of terrible
satisfaction. 1t vindicated his conduct
1t told for him what he had concealed
it proved him worthy son of that
great father who also bore his fate sc
heroically.
The revelation not only showed thes,
two as noble sufferers, but redeemed
the unfortunate woman herself from
the odium for which she was not re-
sponsble.